i think his strategy of investing in education, in research, in energy independence, in infrastructure, is a winning strategy. i think that's the reason why we've added five million jobs in the last 30 months, more jobs than in eight years of george w. bush, and when you consider that the policies being advanced by governor romney are the same as those pursued by george w. bush that got us into this mess, i think the american people are going to see that and look past what is admittedly not the president's best night. i give it to governor romney on style points. but on substance, and that's what matters, the president wins and should. >> you're a friend of the president's. you know him better than almost anybody in the political world, certainly. what went wrong, do you think? what was the thinking? was there something we didn't know about? people suggesting he may have been given bad news just to explain the sort of strangely morose mood he seemed to be in. >> i really don't know. i wasn't in denver. i know whenever i go to denver it takes me a little while to adjust to the altitude.